Category: Read This Book

Casey and her three friends are the anonymous creators behind a popular YouTube channel whose videos focus on exploring old and abandoned places throughout L.A., sometimes relying on some light breaking and entering in order to capture the perfect shots. They’re about to graduate and go their separate ways, and they want one last hurrah. When Jacob convinces the others to break into a house that’s been left virtually untouched since a 1970 murder, Casey is reluctant, but allows herself to be convinced. The experience is thrilling and the footage is unreal…until a security alarm is tripped and the four of them make a hasty retreat, only to discover that Jacob has been stabbed. They make the snap decision to leave him behind, but he hangs on by a thread, lingering in a coma. While they try to cover their tracks, Casey is suspicious of why their friend is targeted, and becomes determined to discover who is responsible for his attempted murder…even if the answer leads to one of them.

This is a great twisty mystery with plenty of thrills, set against the backdrop of L.A.’s more mundane places, and where the elements of fame have a darker edge. I liked Casey as a protagonist and could sympathize with her struggle to balance what they do as an interesting hobby (Casey is responsible for the research elements of their show) alongside with the discomfort she feels as a tragedy tourist for their more sensitive locales. Casey’s mom was a victim of an unsolved murder years before the book begins, so she is especially sensitive to how victims of crimes and their relatives are treated after the fact. The mystery aspect of this book takes her right back to the original murder that occurs 50 years earlier, and it’s a compelling journey for a cold case with some surprising developments. The queer representation in this book also feels very casual and natural — Casey and two of her friends are queer, and although this book doesn’t focus in on any of their romantic relationships, their queer identities have a natural progression and are important to the book.

If you like fiction that interrogates the nature of true crime, is inspired by real locations (the Los Feliz Murder Mansion), and has a queer cast, definitely pick this one up!

The author, Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, is a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and Even As We Breathe is the first published novel by a member of the Eastern Band. Set during WWII, Even As We Breathe follows Cowney, a young Cherokee man who gets a summer job at the historic Grove Park Inn located in Asheville, North Carolina. Cowney was born with a twisted foot, which means that he is one of the only young men in the area that wasn’t drafted during WWII. So in early summer, Cowney and Essie, a young woman from his reservation, make the journey to Asheville from their home in Cherokee, North Carolina.

Cowney arrives at the Grove Park Inn excited and nervous to start his new job. He can’t help but be curious about the Axis diplomats and their families who are being held at the inn by the U.S. government. As he works around the grounds, he keeps looking for glimpses of the diplomats and their families. But the excitement soon dissipates as the white workers and military men begin making racist comments that echo in his mind throughout the day.

As he and Essie become better friends, he begins to wish she would see him as more than a friend. He catches himself thinking about their conversations as he works. But one day, a the daughter of a Japanese diplomat goes missing. Cowney is brought in for questioning, the military personnel racial profiling the only Native man employed at the inn.

Cowney is such a fascinating character. We learn about his dad, who died fighting in WWI, even before Indigenous people were recognized as citizens of the United States. Cowney is raised by his grandmother, and his dad’s brother is a figure always around but never really there for Cowney. As Cowney’s grandmother’s health begins to decline, Cowney is forced to confront some of his family’s messy history, and address relationships from the past that still impact his present.

This is a queer young adult anthology and I rarely say this about anthologies but, every single story in this collection is a winner. It was thoughtfully put together and features a racially diverse range of characters that are multiple different flavors of queer. It also includes a wide range of genre representation, which I appreciate.

There’s a vampire story titled, “What Happens in the Closet” by Caleb Roehrig that had me literally laughing out loud because of how awful the vampires are (and it’s not because of the violence). The same story made me cringe because of the awkwardness of being a teen, the awkwardness of being gay, and the combined awkwardness of being a teen who is gay.

Another story that has a nice balance is titled “Lumber Me Mine” by CB Lee. It has the rawness of a fresh breakup out of a toxic relationship with a person who is incredibly manipulative but then it also has a super swoon-worthy girl our lead character meets in Woodshop class. She’s only in Woodshop because she is avoiding the Nutrition and Household Planning class since that’s where her ex will be. I don’t want to give too much away but I really enjoyed this story.

One of my absolute favorite stories in this whole book is “Victory Lap” by Julian Winters. It is so sweet and I absolutely cried multiple times which is silly because it’s a short story! I would cry on one page, be fine for the next, and then start crying all over again a paragraph later. Luke Stone, our protagonist, is looking for a prom date with the help of his friends. We learn that Luke recently quit the cross country team to help his dad out more at his dad’s well-known barber shop. We also learn that Luke’s mother had passed away and also that Luke hasn’t come out to his dad yet. This story could totally be a recipe for disaster but it is filled with so much goofy dad goodness and I have a soft spot in my heart for dad jokes as well as for really good dads.

One of the many things I appreciate about this collection is that the characters are also all along different points in their queer journeys. Some are already well-established in their identities and some are figuring things out still and some figure things out by the end of the story and some don’t and that’s okay. There’s so much more in this anthology as well. A story that features LSD, a story including a few Greek gods, a story featuring a kitchen witch which is also another one of my most favorites in this book. Aliens! Selkies! Dystopian futures! A super fun read that has something for everyone.

June Hayward and Athena Liu met in undergrad and initially bonded over their love of literature and a shared dream of one day becoming authors. Fast forward a few years after college graduation and Athena is a successful, well-published author. June has a debut that flopped. Even though they don’t seem to really like each other anymore, they still occasionally hang out, and one fateful night Athena dies in a tragic, stupid accident and June steals the recently completed first draft of her next book. It’s brilliant, but rough. June tells herself she’s going to polish it off, in Athena’s memory. But before long, she’s immersed in the work, and she makes the fateful decision to pass the book off as her own. Pretty soon, the book has an amazing deal and her publishing team rebrands June, who is white, into the racially ambiguous Juniper Song. The novel launches her into the successful career she’s always dreamed of—but at what cost?

I feel like I should state upfront that if you’re not the type of person who cares about how the sausage gets made when it comes to publishing, and you don’t like books with antiheroes making increasingly terrible decisions, this book might frustrate you! However, it’s spectacularly written and endlessly compelling, and Kuang really knows how to sustain tension throughout the entire novel without losing the reader — I inhaled this book, and so did many other people I know. It’s a not-so-subtle commentary on literary scandals, and the parallels between June’s situation and the controversy surrounding American Dirt are obvious. But Yellowface goes deeper than just the real-life drama of the literary world and asks questions about what it means to be a writer, to create, to take inspiration from life, and to use the experiences of others in order to write a story that you profit from. It’s also about what kinds of stories are told and how the publishing industry shapes those stories. As a writer and someone entrenched in that world, there was a lot that was relatable and a fair amount that was horrifying. I thought I was getting a messy book about publishing, but the story takes the shape of a suspense novel fairly quickly (will June get caught?) and toward the end even verges on horror. It perfectly encapsulates all the ways that publishing can mess with your mind, and by the end I wasn’t sure what I wanted to happen next.

This book will mess with your head a little bit, and make you want to take a social media detox, but in a good way! It’ll also be one you won’t be able to stop talking about, so definitely pick it up!

In Rachel Heng’s second novel, she tells the story of Ah Boon, the son of a fisherman living in a small village. Ah Boon is a quiet boy, an outlier of his family. But when his family struggles to catch enough fish for the family, Ah Boon discovers a mysterious island that has plenty of fish for everyone.

Ah Boon meets his best friend, a young girl named Siok Mei. They both attend the small village school, where they meet a teacher who has very specific ideas of the future of Singapore. As he grows older, the Japanese army invades, and Ah Boon finds himself living in a world of political change and British Colonialism. He wants a better world for his family, and his country. But what is he willing to sacrifice for that possible future? Would the costs outweigh the benefits?

Going into this epic of a book, I didn’t know what to expect. I found myself swept away by Heng’s story. She’d created a world filled with magical islands, political intrigue, and love. Ah Boon seems adrift in the world. He is inquisitive, but unsure of what direction he wants his life to take. There’s the world of his family, their lives as fishermen. There’s the life that Siok Mei aspires to achieve, in face of political opposition. With English colonialism comes a new world of Oxford educated men determined to make Singapore more Western.

Heng’s storytelling sweeps you away, and for over 400 pages, I became invested in Ah Boon’s story. The Great Reclamation has intrigue, drama, suspense: everything one could hope for. The audiobook edition is brilliantly performed by Windson Liong, and he brings the story to life in such an incredible way. So if you’re looking for a novel to sweep off to your feet, this is it. Get ready to be wowed.

Georgina has such a perfect life, she knows she has to be careful not to come across as insufferable. She’s a successful lawyer and partner at her NYC firm, she works with her handsome husband, their marriage is great, and she has awesome friends. And then she walks in on her husband having sex with her mentee, and desperate to save her marriage, she decides to give swinging a try. She convinces her best friends Norah and Felix, both having relationship struggles as well, to join her. And soon they’re embarking on a wild adventure through sex parties and sex clubs, which lead Georgina straight back to her college boyfriend. Suddenly, swinging is looking like it might torpedo her perfect life.

This is a very smart and engaging book, and Hahn nails the voices perfectly. It’s a perfect balance of smug yet self-deprecating that really evokes that Emma vibe for me, and even though Georgina is a walking disaster (not that she’d ever admit it), I found her to be a fairly sympathetic character as she confronts her misconceptions and assumptions one at a time. The classic set up from Austen is here, and there are lots of parallels between characters, but this isn’t a super loyal retelling, which means that Hahn can play around with her contemporary setting a bit more. This is a breezy read, one you can easily pick up and inhale on a plane or by the beach, and I enjoyed being immersed in a completely different world from my own while sticking with a familiar storyline. I think this is one both Emma fans and those who aren’t familiar with Austen will enjoy in equal measure!

I adore middle grade. There’s just something special about the worlds middle grade authors create that captures my imagination and makes me want to read more. Whenever I feel overwhelmed or somehow end up in a reading slump, I reach for middle grade.

I fell in love with Ortega’s work when I read Ghost Squad, an adorable story about a girl who can see the spirits of her ancestors. But when her family’s spirits start disappearing, she must find a way to save them.

Now Ortega is back with Witchlings, a middle grade novel that focuses on a girl named Seven, who couldn’t be more excited for the ceremony that will finally assign her to a coven. All the witches who turned 12 that year gather together and are assigned their covens. But Seven finds herself as one of the three Spares, witchlings who don’t end up in a proper coven. 

Now Seven and her two potential coven mates must find a way to bond together and create a coven of their own or risk losing their powers all together. The novel follows the three witchlings as they try to problem solve and find a way to band together in friendship and collaboration.

This book is so adorable and centers around understanding that the people around us might not be as terrible as we assumed. It focuses on friendship, what that looks like, and how to determine who our ride-or-die friends truly are.

The second book in the Witchlings series is The Golden Frog Games, which just came out recently. Now the once-in-a-generation witch games are happening, and our beloved coven of Spares —​ ​Seven Salazar, Valley Pepperhorn, and Thorn Laroux — find themselves, once again, the center of controversy. The second novel focuses on Thorn, who wants to compete, but when other contestants start turning to stone, people lay the blame at the feet of the three spares.

Rebekah Taussig tells very personal stories and through them, teaches readers so much about her experience as a person who uses a wheelchair and about ableism and how ableism punishes all of us. The author does not pull punches when she writes about how awful people can be. She breaks down a lot of really crap behavior in films and television, such as when a character with a disability has that dream sequence where they suddenly don’t have that disability anymore which is based on the audacious assumption that all people with disabilities would be happier without them. There is also the common thinking that they would do anything to get rid of them, even evil things. I’m looking at you, Detective Pikachu.

She also tears into “inspiration porn” such as the promposals of the captain of the football team asking the disabled girl in class to prom. “Inspiration porn” is a term for using disabled people as props for videos for likes and clicks because “everyone” wants to see the heartwarming videos of these heroic people being so heroically kind. The rest of that chapter is absolute fire as well. Kindness is complicated and this book makes readers take a step back and think about acts of kindness and when they are actually selfish acts versus when they are something someone actually needs. Taussig gives the example of seeing a person using a wheelchair trying to reach a napkin from a pile of napkins on a high counter. The world doesn’t need the sort of kindness of another person handing them a single napkin. We need someone who will move the whole pile of napkins to a place where they are accessible to everyone all the time.

The author talks about how she was around a group of women and they were talking about experiences that are assumed universal experiences for women, such as catcalling or being told to smile; however, the author hadn’t because what, she’s less of a woman? Because the assumption that a person in a wheelchair has no reason to smile? This is not the author saying all women deserve to be harassed but what she is saying is that we really need to think about all women when we start to assume things about all women.

In another chapter I really appreciated she writes about the capitalist equation that hours + production + wages = value but when a person is disabled, their production amount might be different, the hours you can work might be different, and the wages you’re getting paid are likely to be different which, in a capitalist society, means they are valued less.

This book was thoughtful, enraging, and an absolutely essential read.

CJ isn’t really good at very many things, and she’s not the academic prodigy her mom hoped for. But she does love spending time in her family’s flower shop, learning about arranging flowers and the many meanings behind the plants her aunt sells. The flower shop is more than a safe haven — it is deeply meaningful to her family. Her grandfather was swindled out of the shop by the wealthy white MacAllister family when Japanese Americans were forced into prison camps during WWII, and CJ’s grandfather spent decades after the war saving to buy back the shop. So that’s why CJ is horrified when her mom, who disapproves of the shop, wants to sell to the McAllister descendants. CJ and her aunt leak this development to the news…and what comes next surprises even them.

I really enjoyed that this novel was about the tangible effects of the racist policy to imprison Japanese Americans in the 1940s, and that it goes beyond the story of imprisonment to show the longterm effects, even after the war. CJ is a very relatable character who doesn’t feel like she has found her thing or that she fully belongs in her family. She’s reckoning with a lot in her past — the absence of a father figure, her complicated family legacy, a sometimes contentious relationship between her mom and aunt, and her own romantic tribulations. But one thing she cares about is the flower shop and a sense of justice, and she can’t abide by the idea that her family business should end up back in the hands of those that cheated her grandfather. As the community rallies around her family, she learns that this fight is a lot bigger than just her family’s injustice, and she also has to navigate the sometimes fraught interpersonal politics that come with a group of very different people advocating for a cause together. CJ isn’t perfect, but she’s always sympathetic and her growth is gratifying to watch.

Definitely pick this book up if you want a well-written YA novel about friendships, family, and the importance of understanding history and correcting injustices in your community.

Ever since I listened to the audiobook of Irby’s essay collection We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, I have been a huge Samantha Irby fan. Irby is a self-described fat Black woman who lives with her wife in the Midwest. And her most recent collection, Quietly Hostile covers the time in her life right before and during the pandemic.

Irby’s essays use humor in so many different ways. In some essays, she describes difficult moments in her life, like her television show being canceled after YEARS of work on the concept. Or that time she started writing for the Sex in the City reboot and received intensely aggressive messages.

She also features funny moments like when she and her wife adopted one of the worst dogs in the world or that one time she accidentally started dating that guy who got turned on by hearing her pee. Irby is the queen of horrible date stories. 

In one essay, she describes how one night she found herself having a severe allergic reaction to some unknown substance. While sitting on the toilet in intense pain, she talks to the helpful person on the phone who informs her that she needs to head to the hospital NOW. As someone who’s also found themselves in the emergency room having an allergic reaction to random substances, I laughed so much at this essay. Irby has perfected dark, chronic illness humor.

One of the things I appreciate about her the most is her approach to her experience with inflammatory bowel disease. Talking about diseased colons always seems to make people uncomfortable, but Irby is having none of that. She gives her colon as much space as she wants to give it. She leans into the grotesque humor, unapologetic.

Like I mentioned earlier, I LOVE Irby’s audiobook performances, and Quietly Hostile is no exception. She combines her perfect delivery and spot inflections to create this tension in her performance. I found myself holding my breath at yet another ridiculous scenario or darkly funny moment. I cannot recommend the audiobook enough.